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Category: Norfolk

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    As this is a journey that I often take, I wasn’t going to write about it, but Greater Anglia’s choice of train annoyed me. So, I have.

    Norwich railway station on a Wednesday lunch-time in February, it’s getting busier, but I’m sure that passenger numbers aren’t there yet. Shame that West Cornwall Pasty, which was to the left of Starbucks, has closed, but that unit could perhaps be turned into a Greggs…. The M&S at the railway station is still closed, it’s been like that for two years now.

    Here’s the train, all shiny on Platform 2.

    And then I realised this. It’s the bloody Stansted Express train they’re using again. I thought to myself just how not ideal this was.

    I have no idea why Greater Anglia keep using these Stansted Express trains, they were never designed for this route. They don’t have tables, they don’t have first class (not that that much matters to me) and they don’t have a buffet car (actually, that doesn’t much matter to me either). Other customers have asked Greater Anglia why they use these trains on social media, but it’s seemingly a mystery to customers and Greater Anglia alike. Two groups came walking by me on the train on a hunt for tables, but their search would have been forlorn. The conductor, who was friendly and helpful, made an announcement saying that a last minute train change was required, but this train continually goes up and down the Norwich to London mainline so it’s not a rare occurence.

    A lack of table is annoying when using a laptop, although the power points worked. It’s quite hard to sit at these seats without wanting to put your feet on the chairs opposite, because that would make using a laptop much easier. However, I consider that to be a crime against humanity, although it’s possible to put one foot on the heating panel below the window. Greater Anglia have also decided they’d like their trains to be like rolling furnaces along the track in some sort of commemoration of the heat of steam engines, and there’s no way for a customer to cool the carriage themselves.

    We arrived into London Liverpool Street at the unusual platform 4 (unusual as in this train doesn’t usually stop there, it’s otherwise a normal platform) which I guess is because they’ve decided that the Stansted Express train was going to be used to go to Stansted.

    London Liverpool Street is definitely looking busier. All of the e-tickets were failing (again) so the gate guard was busy checking tickets manually, which I’m not sure is how the system is meant to work.

    As an aside, I went to the rear of the station and this is all looking much tidier.

    I don’t know when this was landscaped, but the whole area around London Liverpool Street appears to be being modernised, it’s all a clear improvement.

    I suppose it’s hard to complain with a fare that’s only £10 from Norwich to London (although, as is evident here, I’ve had a good go), but this would be a nicer journey if the train was more comfortable. But, the staff on board were friendly and conversational, although the train was rather hot, but everything ran to time and was efficient.

  • Finding the Source of the River Wensum Part 3

    Finding the Source of the River Wensum Part 3

    PART 3 OF FINDING THE SOURCE OF THE RIVER WENSUM

    When Nathan and I were training for the LDWA 100, we started on a series of expeditions to find the source of the River Wensum. I accept this isn’t as challenging as finding the source of the Nile or the Ganges, but there was limited ability to use public transport and venues open during the lockdown, so we had to be a little resourceful. Anyway, we got as far as Lyng, and I wanted to go further to complete what we started. Nathan has retired from walking now, so this time, I convinced friends Richard and Liam to come with me. It took us a while to organise, but with my complaining that I was tired after marshalling the LDWA Winter Poppyline on the Saturday (more on which later) we were ready to go.

    Standing in the same spot as my photo from the last section of the walk, we started at Lyng Mill. The fun fact for this mill is that there is some support for the theory that it was where blotting paper was first created, a mistake caused by messing up production of normal paper. Another great Norfolk achievement.

    I was still quite sleepy when I took this photo, but Richard noted that the village sign notes some other spellings of the village’s name. The village sign was placed here in 2010 and shows the church, the now disappeared medieval abbey, the mill, a blacksmith and Humphry Repton who designed the gardens at Lyng Rectory. Lyng might now feel like quite a sleepy village, but it was once an important settlement with its two religious buildings.

    An old heritage map of the village. Some far-sighted council likely put this up 20 years ago and it’ll probably stay here until it falls down. We walked through the courtyard of the Fox at Lyng to get through to the church, reminding ourselves that next time we do this then we’ll get a Sunday lunch at a pub en route.

    St. Margaret’s Church in Lyng, which deserves a longer visit, as this was a building with some considerable character.

    The west tower dates to the thirteenth century, as does the bulk of the nave. The font is also from this period, another remarkable survival.

    This is rather odd (the church I mean, not Richard standing in the foreground), as the chancel is off-centre compared to the rest of the building. It transpires that the chancel was rebuilt in the 1860s on the site of the original floorplan, which suggests to me one of two things. Either there was an north aisle which has been brought under one larger roof later on, or the church was widened in the late medieval period and they never got to widening the chancel as well. I suspect it’s the latter, there’s not much space on that north aisle.

    The Victorian plan for the new church.

    I think this was appropriate to the day’s quest, a map of the local area on the wall of the church, with the river’s route being clearly noticeable.

    This is a legacy of when some pews were available for free usage, as opposed to those who got a seat up-front but had to pay pew rental for that benefit.

    A blocked up door, which I initially couldn’t work out, but I think it was the former entrance to the two-storied fifteenth century porch.

    There are numerous more stories to tell about this church, I’ll return…..

    Given the walk, I felt the need to take a photo of this sign.

    Our rule was to try and catch sight of the Wensum whenever we could. Walking through Lyng, this isn’t it, these are the lakes formed from the former quarry that was located here. However, the Wensum winds it way behind here, so we went to investigate.

    We walked by the lakes, located on Quarry Lane, in the hope of seeing the river at the rear of the lakes. Liam took the lead here in case there were any dangerous animals in the undergrowth.

    To cut a long story short, it’s not really quite possible to see the river, but we could see the route that it was taking in the distance. So we walked back to the road, but pleased that we had investigated.

    Back on the main road we walked through the metropolis of Fustyweed, which seemed to consist of four houses, of which one was a treehouse. This small hamlet has name origins which are uncertain, although there’s a guess at trying to explain the situation at http://www.lyngonline.org.uk/whats-in-a-name.html.

    This is the bridge on Elsing Lane, with Richard and Liam standing in front of the river as it heads towards Norwich.

    And there’s the landscape from the other side of the road, looking towards the source of the river.

    A photo from the same location, without the bridge’s ironwork in the way.

    The village’s mill is visible.

    As we walked northwards, a rather fancy wall appeared, which I imagine is the country estate wall of Bylaugh Park.

    One of the lodges at the entrance to the road leading to Bylaugh Park.

    This will definitely need further investigation, St. Mary’s Church at Bylaugh. This is kept permanently locked, but there’s keyholder information and we’re planning to get in touch to visit this church in the future. Richard, who is the most social, is going to get in touch with the church as there are some interesting things to see inside it seems.

    The tower is late Saxon or early Norman, the rest is a much later rebuild from when a grander building was needed for the hall. It’s positive that this church survives as there’s no real congregation here, the hall isn’t lived in and there are very few residential properties nearby.

    Richard and Liam standing in the graveyard, and this is really quite a pleasant place to be buried (as far as these things go….) with its view over the River Wensum.

    All very tranquil and there’s a newer section to this graveyard a little nearer to the road. The Wensum is quite wide at this point, it’s showing few signs of narrowing at the moment.

    The pleasant path from the church back to the road.

    The second lodge of the hall. The road here goes to the north of the Wensum and we could see the river’s route, but couldn’t get near to it. The hall is worthy of more investigation and I wonder whether it might be possible to visit, although it’s currently in use as a training centre. The hall had been completed in 1852 and was designed by the architects Charles Barry, Jr. and Robert Richardson Banks. It was one of the most substantial residential buildings in Norfolk and one of the first to be constructed with a steel girder frame. The building was damaged during the Second World War after it was used by the military, and there were attempts to turn it into a nursing home following the end of the conflict. The core of the building was flogged off in 1950 at an auction, including the roof and the interiors.

    I noted this destruction to Richard and Liam as I had found that information on-line. So imagine my surprise when three minutes later we walked near to the entrance to Bylaugh Hall and it looks very complete with not much evidence of destruction. It transpires that it was only around twenty years ago that it was decided to save the building, and a grand reconstruction has taken place at what was previously a wreck. There’s more about this work at https://thecountryseat.org.uk/2013/02/22/bylaugh-hall-the-hidden-history-to-a-remarkable-restoration-opportunity/.

    There is some evidence that President Eisenhower came to the building during the Second World War and apparently Winston Churchill visited on a few occasions. It’s hard to imagine that a former President of the United States has been driven down this quiet back road, but I rather hope that the story is true.

    The walk then goes to the Swanton Morley Waterfalls. You can see the look of excitement in the faces of Richard and Liam, I think they felt quite humbled to be near such an important site. This is very much Richard’s patch of Norfolk (I mean Dereham, rather than this particular stretch of mud), although he hadn’t been aware of this water feature despite driving by it on numerous occasions.

    I’m surprised that there isn’t a visitor centre by this major attraction, although I accept that it’s not quite Niagara Falls. This isn’t the River Wensum, it’s a channel that was created from it for the purposes of constructing a mill. I think that’s one thing that I’ve learned from this whole process, there were a lot of mills along stretches of the river, an essential early power source. We saw a few fishermen in the area, and although this isn’t a hobby that is in the slightest bit of interest to me, I can imagine it’s a quiet and peaceful location if they can ignore the sound of the thundering waterfall.

    The river reappears at Swanton Morley, including this rather lovely bridge, but more about that in the next post.

    And here are Richard and Liam on the bridge, celebrating the completion of our short walk.

    Despite Richard being told clearly not to look at the next part of the river walk, which we’ll tackle in a few weeks, he ignored that and excitedly ran towards it pointing. I disregarded his exuberance and obsession with questioning authority. I mentioned that Nathan would have been appalled at this continued breach of the rules that we had established, but Richard didn’t seem concerned at his lack of river walking etiquette. Anyway, I digress….

    And that’s that, not the longest of walks, just 7.3 kilometres, but it was really rather lovely to get nearer to the source of the River Wensum……. And just as we finished the walk, I had woken up after my lack of sleep from the previous evening, which perhaps wasn’t ideal timing.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    I’m used to the journey from Norwich to London Liverpool Street, but it’s rare for me to be getting the 07:00 train as that’s normally an expensive commuter service. Today though, it was £12.50 which I thought was reasonable all things considered (namely how expensive some other Greater Anglia services are which are of a much shorter destination).

    Norwich railway station wasn’t packed with people, but there were a few services about to leave, including the service to Liverpool Lime Street, so it wasn’t entirely quiet.

    Here’s the London thunderbolt that would hopefully get me into the city at 08:51. I boarded and had a carriage to myself, which was rather lovely. I then had a woman come up to me and she said that I looked strong (can’t fault her logic there) and could I open her bottle of water for her. This sort of scenario isn’t ideal, as if I can’t open it then I look ridiculous. Fortunately, I gave the impression of huge strength since I opened the bottle immediately. That’s a decent start to a journey.

    What wasn’t a decent start was seeing that the train was marked as delayed, with no announcements made about it. I’m not sure what caused this, as the signs soon lost their delayed status and the train was ready to rock and roll at 07:00 as expected. The announcements made by the staff were all friendly and informative, with a guard checking tickets. This process didn’t exactly take him long and to my slight disappointment (as I like watching drama unfold) everyone seemed to have a valid ticket.

    Here’s the packed carriage. I also managed to sit at the only block of seats on the train that didn’t have working power, so had to move to the seats opposite. This wasn’t the only technical problem on board, as the shutter at the cafe had broken and jammed, so the staff had to walk up and down the train with the trolley. The service though arrived into London on time, so no complaints there. It didn’t get much busier either, just a handful of people on the entire train.

    This is London Liverpool Street at commuter time, but on a morning between Christmas and New Year’s Day, which is perhaps never going to be packed with hordes of travellers. Nonetheless, it was still quieter than I expected.

    And outside London Liverpool Street station, with a calmness in the air.

  • Bunwell – St. Michael and All Angels Church (Grave of Jacob Hinchley)

    Bunwell – St. Michael and All Angels Church (Grave of Jacob Hinchley)

    When my friend Richard and I went to visit some churches last week, we visited St Michael and All Angels in Bunwell. We spent some time looking for the war graves that are located here, and found two of the three that are located at the church.

    Anyway, for absolutely no reason at all that I can explain, I was interested in this grave and it’s the only non war related one that I took a photo of. Given that, I thought I should investigate a little why the grave of Jacob Hinchley who died at the age of 59 on 10 March 1897 seemed so intriguing to me.

    Jacob was born in Bunwell in 1837, the son of John and Rebecca Hinchley. At the 1841 census, he had three older brothers, Charles, Henry and Robert, as well as a younger sister, Rebecca, and they all lived at Burnt House in the village. This quite substantial house still stands, today worth half a million pounds and having six bedrooms. Despite residing at a large property, I can’t imagine that the family were particularly wealthy as John worked as a road labourer and the male children worked as farm labourers and the daughter as a worsted weaver.

    Jacob is listed on the 1871 census as living with his wife Sophia and his father John, who was now aged 73, with their address listed as “by the turnpike in Bunwell”. Jacob had married Sophia Parish at Bunwell church in 1866, but something clearly goes wrong after this and there is a burial record for Sophia Hinchley at the church in 1875. There wasn’t a great delay before Jacob married Ellen Blake in 1876, when he was 39 years old, although his wife was aged just 21 years old. Jacob appears in the local press a few times as a bell ringer at the church and he travelled the county performing his hobby.

    The last census that took place during Jacob’s lifetime was in 1891, when he lived in North Bunwell and was still working as a farm labourer. He lived with his wife Ellen, their daughter Alice and their sons Oliver and Percy, which is the same arrangement as the 1881 census, other than he had a new child. Percy was just two years old, which meant that Jacob became a father at the age of 52, which is relatively old for the period, but a reality given that he married twice and I’m not sure whether he had any children with his first wife.

    Jacob died in 1897, with Ellen living until 1916. I’m not sure that I uncovered much about Jacob, other than he married twice, he liked bell ringing and he lived in Bunwell all of his life. It is though a case of just how important the church likely was to Jacob, as he was baptised there, married there twice, buried there and was a bell ringer. And maybe one day I’ll find out something else about Jacob to add to this little story….

  • Norwich – Orford Plaice

    Norwich – Orford Plaice

    This was the final Christmas lunch of 2021 for James and I, at Orford Plaice which is a chip shop we’ve managed to walk by several hundred times and never quite gone in.

    It’s larger inside than I expected, there’s a downstairs eating area and there are a number of tables on the ground floor. The service was friendly and helpful, although we got their last pot of gravy (not something that we really ever buy, although it’s a personal favourite of mine with chips).

    Having chips on a proper plate is a bit decadent for us, or “it’s like being in a Wimpy” as James put it. The food was brought over after a few minutes, at which point they remembered they hadn’t prepared the gravy, but that didn’t take much longer. Our meal was chips alongside battered pigs in blankets. The chips were fine, complemented nicely by the gravy, although I thought that the pigs in blankets were a little generic and not really very interesting. Having written that though, I did like the battering of them, primarily as I like nearly anything that has been battered, it just adds taste and texture. The portion size was also reasonable, with everything at the appropriate hot temperature, although the plate itself was cold.

    Price-wise, this is somewhere between Grosvenor and Lucy’s, with the surroundings being reasonably comfortable. There’s meant to be a masks-on inside policy, but it was ignored by some and not questioned, but I’m not going to burden myself with getting concerned about that. I think I still prefer Lucy’s, their butchers sausages are a nice little treat. This venue has won some awards, which I’m slightly surprised about, but we’ve decided to revisit in the new year to test some more of their menu out. No point coming to any snap verdicts about the food quality….

  • Bunwell – St. Michael and All Angels Church (Grave of Jack Montague Smith)

    Bunwell – St. Michael and All Angels Church (Grave of Jack Montague Smith)

    This is the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels Church in Bunwell.

    Just before my friend Richard and I meandered out to look at some historic churches, I was watching a documentary on tunnelling under the German lines during the First World War. This was a successful tactic deployed primarily by the British military and the Royal Engineers, although they were helped by numerous other companies which included those from Canada, Australia and New Zealand amongst others.

    Which is why I thought that the grave of Jack Montague Smith looked interesting, he’s one of the three war dead who is buried in the churchyard. He was born in Bunwell on 2 November 1892 and was the son of George William Gates Smith and Mary Alice Smith, of The Laburnums, Bunwell. His father was a watchmaker and Jack had three brothers and two sisters at the time of the 1901 census.

    Jack was a member of the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company, part of the Canadian Engineers. They were sent to France in early 1916 and worked on the Bluff area, in Flanders, until early 1917 when the Australians took over. Their role was primarily in tunnelling under enemy lines, a dangerous and difficult occupation.

    Jack was a sapper with service number 501337 and he signed up in Ontario in December 1915. There’s an obvious question of what Jack was doing in Canada, but it wasn’t uncommon for younger men to go and find employment there, so that’s my best guess. Unfortunately, as Jack’s surname is Smith, I can’t identify which of the many Jack Smiths it might have been on the passenger lists.

    After being sent to fight on the front line he was injured on 26 April 1916. He was admitted to the 51st Field Ambulance, which was a front line medical unit which treated those with injuries. He was evacuated back to the United Kingdom, being sent to the Yarrow Hospital in Broadstairs where Canadian troops were cared for. Sadly, Jack died of his injuries at the hospital on 1 June 1916 at the age of 23 years old. His body was then returned to Norfolk for burial at Bunwell on 2 June 1916.

  • Bunwell – St. Michael and All Angels Church

    Bunwell – St. Michael and All Angels Church

    Richard and I were on one of our meanders around churches in Norfolk, rather more challenging with it getting dark quite so early on in the day. This Grade I listed grand church is located a little outside of the rather spread out village of Bunwell and it was primarily built in the mid to late fifteenth century on the site of an earlier structure. It’s thought that the location of the church was chosen as it was the highest land in the area which was once home to an early stone cross.

    The tower dates from the early sixteenth century and there are six bells inside. The helpful history guide in the church notes that these are from 1699, 1699, 1732, 1732, 1832 and 1884 (the most recent, but a recast of a bell from 1612).

    The porch.

    Quite a small priest’s door.

    The end of the chancel, looking a little plain because of the rendering.

    I’ll stop my little tour of the exterior here to add in a news report from Easter Sunday in 1894, which doesn’t appear in the church’s history inside the building. What happened caused quite a sensation in the area, as there was an attempt to blow the church up (or at least badly damage it) with explosives. Fuses had been placed in the ground with gunpowder, but they had failed to ignite and so no damage was done. The police were bemused and said they weren’t sure that they would find the culprit.

    The story continues though, as the police arrested someone on some rather loose evidence, a Lambert Johnson who was aged 41 and who had done work on the church that he claimed that the previous rector hadn’t paid for. The trial ended in chaos, with the local newspaper reporting:

    “His Lordship said to the jury: You will find a verdict of not guilty. There is not a particle of evidence against the prisoner. I don’t hesitate to say that this is a most improper prosecution – one brought without the slightest conceivable grounds. It is too bad that this man should be five or six weeks in gaol awaiting trial”.

    Although if I’m being honest, Johnson does seem like a prime candidate here.

    Only one side of the chancel has the large perpendicular windows, this side is rather more barren. My knowledge of churches isn’t sufficient to say what has gone on here, nor what those three bits of stone on the left are supporting. The rendering has also made it difficult to see what is underneath.

    This former window or door has been uncovered, perhaps leading to another structure at some stage in the building’s history. If anyone knows, please do contact me….

    The porch way and I wasn’t expecting that we’d be able to get into the church. It was though open, which was something of a surprise. It was dark inside and we decided against finding the lights, but fortunately my phone in night mode actually made it look quite bright internally.

    This is a spacious church, but it was constructed without any aisles, which seems a little unusual for such a grand project.

    The choir seating, with these stalls first used at the memorial service for King Edward VII which was held on 29 May 1910.

    The pulpit, which is just over 100 years old, dating from a similar period to the choir stalls following a period of a very leaky roof damaging some of the interior.

    The chancel end.

    Looking back towards the church tower.

    That’s quite an impressive roof, stripped back and partly replaced in 1908 as it was leaking badly. The church then had to turn its attention to the tower, which was in “a very dangerous condition”.

    Above the North Door are the Royal Arms of Queen Anne.

    The font is from the fifteenth century.

    One of the old oak panelled chests which would have once stored important church documents.

    A really rather lovely church and it does the parish great credit that they’ve made an effort to open the building up. I also liked that they had produced a history of the church for visitors, it all felt really quite welcoming even though we didn’t see anyone during the visit. The churchyard, of which more in another post, is relatively large and has had at least two separate extensions added to it.

  • Saxlingham Thorpe – Duke of Delhi (formerly The Mill Inn)

    Saxlingham Thorpe – Duke of Delhi (formerly The Mill Inn)

    After some meandering around some historic churches (although, not very many since it’s nearly winter solstice and it’s dark at what seems like mid-day) we thought that we’d get a little snack to reward our history research. I found a pub option that seemed suitable, but then we noticed on-line that they seemed to have a Sunday menu and it all seemed a bit complex. Given that, there was an Indian nearby, and I rarely turn down a chance to have my favourite cuisine, so the Duke of Delhi it was.

    This was until a few years ago the Mill Inn, a roadside pub which was previously known as the West End and had been trading since the 1850s. I’m not usually thrilled to see pubs turned into restaurants, but I really don’t see that there was much choice here. There’s a limited amount of residential properties nearby and since driving after drinking alcohol isn’t an option for customers, a pub’s trade would be limited. There was a friendly welcome offered when we entered, although we were the only customers which wasn’t perhaps surprising since we arrived one minute after they opened. We were enthusiastic (and, well, hungry as well).

    The staff member took the drinks order immediately after we were seated, which was perhaps a little swift, and he suggested Cobra. I wanted mango lassi really, but they didn’t have that, so I went for half a pint of Cobra. I don’t like that they sell half pints at disproportionately more than pints and although this is a restaurant and not a pub, so they won’t get an angry comment from CAMRA, it does slightly annoy me. Anyway, weak drinks choice from my perspective and annoying pricing policy aside, everything else was comfortable and organised in the restaurant so my first impressions were positive.

    Whilst I’m here, it is possible to do Indian food and craft beer as I’ve had that combination at the Indian Brewery in Snowhill, Birmingham a few months ago. Now that would be an exciting concept for Norfolk….

    I was quite happy with this choice of chutneys with the poppadoms, there was perhaps nothing exceptional, but they were entirely acceptable and I enjoyed them all.

    I went for the Murgh Jeera, a curry that was brought over sizzling away nicely, packed with the flavour of cumin and with a generous amount of chicken. I really liked this, there wasn’t the depth of flavour that would have surprised and delighted me, but the chicken was tender and full of flavour, with the curry sauce being tasty and rich. This felt a little Anglicised, but it was better than I expected and absolutely met my expectations. They didn’t have lemon rice, but the coconut rice made up for that.

    For the record, Richard had chicken passanda, which he said was enjoyable and generously portioned, although he marginally preferred the one that he had last week at Shapla Tandoori in Wymondham.

    All told, I liked this restaurant and felt that the service was attentive and polite, with the food being of a decent quality. The drinks pricing policy isn’t one that is unique to the Duke of Delhi, so I won’t mutter about that too much, although what is it with a lack of lassi options? That’d be much more exciting than Cobra. Anyway, all that to one side, I’d happily recommend the restaurant to others.

  • Norwich – Brewdog Visa

    Norwich – Brewdog Visa

    I picked up my new Beer Visa from Brewdog in Norwich yesterday, which I thought I’d be interested in given my attempt to visit every Brewdog in the country. I have to say that I don’t really quite get what they’ve done here, I had hoped it was something like just getting it stamped at each Brewdog. Instead they’re introduced something really quite complex which seems to involve having certain drinks to get stickers and then also repeating the same process at different Brewdog venues. I can’t see whether they’re trying to promote visiting different bars or drinking their mainstream beers, so they’re got some hybrid thing going on.

    It’s actually so complex that I really don’t understand it despite reading the instructions on numerous occasions. Although, to be fair, I’m often easily confused by things. For anyone who wants to read the rules then they’re at https://www.brewdog.com/uk/beer-visa-2.

    Given that I don’t tend to drink Brewdog’s own beers when in their bars, as I’ve had them all, I’m not that interested in the whole process so I’m going to bin the visa. Not the loyalty scheme that I had expected, but apparently they’re relaunching it again in 2023. I’ll wait until then and hope they get something a little more exciting.

  • Norwich – Dhaba at Fifteen

    Norwich – Dhaba at Fifteen

    In an attempt to work through some of the restaurants in Norwich that I’ve neglected to visit over the last couple of years, my friend James and I popped to Dhaba at Fifteen last night. I wasn’t entirely surprised and delighted by Spice Valley last week, but this one came recommended. The welcome was immediate and helpful and we were asked to provide track and trace details. I’ve lost track now of what the actual rules are, but I thought the restaurant was being careful which is always good.

    The menu which I thought was well laid out. There are the traditional Anglo-Indian dishes shoved at the bottom, so they’re there as a choice but the restaurant isn’t going to shout about them. There were numerous really quite innovative dishes there that I haven’t experienced before as well as plenty of vegetarian options.

    The restaurant is perhaps a little plain its decoration, but it was clean and comfortable. It got much busier during the evening, with a number of smaller groups coming in. The restaurant also seemed to be doing a decent amount of takeaways and deliveries, so it seems a popular location.

    I’m always disappointed at any Indian restaurant that doesn’t offer my drink of choice, namely mango lassi. They had it here and it was thick, slightly sweet and very delicious. I approved.

    This is much better from the chutneys and the staff member explained what they were. There was a minced carrot almost like coleslaw (I clearly wasn’t listening when they told me exactly what it was called) and a mint raita which both had a depth of flavour and some care put into them. I’m going to have to e-mail the restaurant so they can tell me exactly what these were.

    [I have e-mailed them and they promptly replied saying that, from left to right, they were a sweet carrot & onion chutney, mint raita and spicy mango chutney.]

    I went for the Kolkatta Kasundi Chicken which is a mustard based curry, something that I’ve never had before. I was suitably surprised and delighted by the arrangement, the chicken was tender and moist with flavour from the sauce, the curry itself had a strong mustard taste without being over-powering and it was served as a generous portion. James had gone for the Peshwari Chicken Pasanda which he thought was equally good, with a similar flavour of almond running through the curry. The rice was fluffy and as expected, with everything being at the appropriate hot temperature.

    The service was always polite and engaging, but without being overbearing or fake. The staff seemed keen to help, which was evident in the way they were offering other customers the option to change dishes to suit their tastes or to make starters into mains. Although the restaurant was getting busy, we were never rushed or hurried, so the environment was comfortable. The prices were perhaps a little towards the higher end of the scale, although the quality justified that.

    The reviews for the restaurant are generally very positive, although I’m bemused by the negative review that complained about the large pieces of chicken. I’m not entirely sure that this is a negative for a restaurant, but there we go….. I’d say that this is one of the best Indian restaurants that I’ve been to in Norfolk, suitably decadent and I think I’ll likely come back here. All very lovely.